05/10/2026
I promised in my last text to let you know of changes coming for Action Cycle. First, lets talk about this year. November 1st will be the 40th anniversary of my opening the business. Some days it seems like last week. Some days it seems like a lifetime. I’ve been working on motorcycles since 1970. Worked on autos, Ford dealerships, before that. That’s over 60 years of diagnosing and fixing other people’s problems. That should explain the white hair. More and more customers, lately, have been asking how much longer??? I can’t answer that exactly, I don’t know. As long as I feel some enjoyment in helping people with their problems, or assist them to go faster on the track, and am still successful with the results I’ll be here. Unless you stop coming in. Thank you all for your support of my efforts and letting me be me.
Now that I’ve plucked the heart strings, I’ll try to explain how things might change. Some are not ‘new’, I’ve been evolving forever. I’ll just try to verify what to expect. Bad things first.
Yep, you probably had already guessed what one item is going to be. With the price of everything going up, and the prices other shops are charging, I’m going to have to make a change in my pricing. In June of ’23 I raised my hourly rate to $110.00 an hour. I didn’t like doing it then, but the world is going nuts. I will be charging $125.00 an hour starting June 1st of this year. I’m still less than almost any other shop. And, no, I don’t make $125.00 an hour, for those who don’t understand labor rates or income statements. If I did, I’d have only worked 2 days a week and would be retired already.
The next item, is hard to put a title on. Every mechanic knows that some jobs pay better than others. They also know that some jobs you really don’t like doing. Bad combo. I’ve already started being more critical of the jobs I take in. I will be a little more in the future. For the jobs that don’t pay as well, and I seem to lose money on them, I may have to re-evaluate the time I charge . Flat rate is weird. This one I should have done long ago.
Along those lines, since I’m virtually the only machine shop for motorcycles in this area, it’s necessary to interrupt engine rebuilds and other time involved jobs to turn over cylinder bores, head reconditioning, crank rebuilding, etc in a reasonable time frame. That and some of the vintage engines, more on that later, have really disrupted my schedule for engine repairs. I’m running 8~10 weeks behind for major jobs. Don’t know how to avoid this situation.
There are certain makes and models that I will not work on. If I’m not familiar with or don’t have the special tools and tech info necessary, or just don’t like the design, I’ll let you know.
That brings us to vintage/old/barn finds/etc. I’ve been buried by these jobs for several years. It’s not that I hate doing them, it’s that I’m too soft in charging for the work done. I relate to most of them and hate to see them trashed. But more and more, the one’s I see have already been trashed. If someone else has been active and butchered it, or it’s been sitting in a barrel of water for years, you know what to expect. Yoshimira was famous for his statement “You can’t make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear”. Enough said.
Vintage, etc. Parts are getting harder to find. If you want to furnish the parts that are obsolete, that’s fine by me. I will have to charge extra to find obsolete parts, my time involvement. But, be prompt. I’ve had/have jobs sitting on the shelf for years awaiting the customer to furnish and bring them in.
Phone calls. I receive up to 12~15 calls a day from telemarketers. I can’t just stop work to answer them, a great waste of my time. If you call, I probably won’t answer. Please, leave a message, I will call you back. The shop number, 253-474-7770 is my land line. Please use it for voice mail. My cell phone is 253-222-5398. Feel free to use it for texts and I will contact you. I have been using it more to contact customers to call me. It’s also my long distance line. I can’t hear the cell phone sometimes, so when calling, use the land line.
That hits the high spots. To refresh your memory remember:
My hours are Tuesday thru Friday. 8:00 to 6:00.
Always call before coming in. Make sure I’m in the shop. Make sure I want you to drop off what ever it is you have for me.
Something I haven’t been as insistent lately as I should – ONLY clean engines come thru my door.
Upon completion, you should pick up job within one week, unless agreed upon previously.
These are some of the policies that need to be known by everyone. Most shops have similar ones, not really new territory. You just need to know what to expect. I don’t like surprises, neither should you.
This one man band I’ve been playing in for years has been interesting. Not so efficient, but I get to make the rules. Marge is a big help with the ‘books’ and other areas, and I couldn’t do this without her. She does ‘direct’ me at times when I need it. We appreciate your patronage and hope we can assist you some more. Thanks.
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